A Tale of Two Ambers: Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens and Ambre by L'Occitane

There was a point in my early perfume lust quests where I was a serious amber aficionado it came directly from a childhood surrounded by the wonderfully crumbly headshop amber perfumes, many people in my family wore it. The truth is that stuff is still wonderful to smell and if you love it keep loving it, I think it is one of those genuine cheap thrills that worth keeping around.

 For years I had a tiny bottle of amber perfume oil bought at some random shop but I grew out of it, associated it with period of disruption in my life, and eventually gave it to young woman I worked with who at the time I think was trying to find something different for herself. As for me and amber we parted ways, it was weird, at one moment it was what I wanted to call my signature, and then well a falling out in the desire to grow up and put some distance between me and childhood loves happened and so amber was put aside. Yet, I was never quite able to trade those bottles out. Last night I was wanting something opposite of abhorrent summer weather and suddently out came my mini bottle of Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens and Ambre by L'Occitane. I think it might be time for me to return to my amber perfumes.

Ambre Sultan and Ambre could not be more opposite in their ideas but at the same time they are still both recognizably amber scents. Ambre Sultan is a dry weathered amber that recalls desert nights and old empires, it use the notes of oregano and bay in such a unique way that it creates one of the more original amber openings, it is arid and recalls mountaintops with windswept Joshua trees. It feels like wearing some sort of epic movie about sultans and power plays.

 L'Occitane's Ambre on the other hand is the story of cozy amber and cream. It is a warm kitchen on a crisp Autumn day where a apple clafouti bakes in the oven with plenty of vanilla and because the cook was feeling creative has thrown a few dry apricots into the batter. It is incredibly smooth and enveloping and strangely un-spiced but rich from the notes of tonka bean and vanilla. There is just a hint of tarry leather in it that always catches me off-guard but eventually leaves I see it as the old leather work glove that has been left in the kitchen.

Try Ambre Sultan if you like Femme by Rochas, Ambre Russe by Parfums d'Empire, Madame X by Ava Luxe, Organza Indecence by Givenchy or Black by Bvlgari.

Try Ambre if you like Ambre Narguile by Hermes, Voile d'Ambre by Yves Rocher, L de Lolita Lempicka, or Private Collection Amber Ylang Ylang by Estee Lauder

image: Alonzo King LINES Ballet Dancers

SOTD: BBW Blackberry Amber lotion, Molinard Mure, L'Occitane Vanille

One of the perks of working for the public is that I get the holidays off such has today. So to fully enjoy this day I am going to be a sillage monster in my home with a layering of potent BBW Blackberry Amber lotion, the sweet and tart Molinard Mure, and the lovely creme brulee vanilla of L'Occitane Vanille parfum de extract. I know it sounds nuts, but I think many fragrance lovers can understand that sometimes you want to be surrounded by a cloud of scent.

The last day or so I have had Tori Amos' A Sorta Fairytale stuck in my head, so I figured I would share the very strange music video Tori made for it:


image provided by artnet.com
image: Grow to a Close by Timothy Berry 1997
video uploaded by campiiion

Most Worn In October: L'Occitane Vanille extrait de parfum

October was the need for comfort wo I relied on L'Occitane's Vanille; what is more comforting than vanilla? Possibly hot chocolate, but I didn't want to smell like hot chocolate.

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image: When October ends by James Shay 2007

SOTD: the discontinued L'Occitane Vanille extrait de parfum

I feel like October has continued the mountain of problems from August and September which were mainly car issues, until the last week of September which involved a filling falling out an a wisdom tooth that needs to be removed, and then this last Thursday which involved my computer hitting its death bed (I knew it was coming but still it was sudden and now I am typing on a brand new computer), and best of all to top that Thursday off my satellite dish decided that it would no longer receive a signal (worst part all I had wanted to do Thursday was watch the vice-presidential debates). So here I am spending my Saturday waiting for the technician to come fix my dish. I will say one good thing happened on Thursday my package that both me and my swapper were getting worried about possibly being lost in the mail because it took half a month to arrive, arrived. It contained a much sought after vanilla fragrance (that for many is Holy Grail vanilla): L'Occitane's Vanille Extrait de Parfum.

I wish I could say I was one of those woman who only wore dry leathery green mossy intellectual scents, but the truth is quite frankly I am a vanilla lover. I am a proud to say I have moved beyond the stage of loving vanilla just because it is vanilla and can see the many variations in vanilla from the candy/cupcake vanillas to the woodsy/smoky/resinous vanillas, I tend to be a lover of the latter finding them closer to the vanilla extract scent that so many of us vanilla lovers are obsessed with finding.

Where does L'Occitane's Vanille lay in the spectrum of vanillas? This is a pure vanilla but not dark and smokey enough to be an extract, althought it does hint at extract with notes of dark caramel. It quite frankly reminds me of a really good flan, the creamy custard flecked with vanilla beans, the kind that is never sickeningly sweet but wonderfully perfumed with vanilla so that you can taste that dark bittersweet flavor that comes from using a vanilla bean and really good vanilla extract. Of course topping off the flan is that gorgeous bittersweet caramel sauce, that makes a beautiful contrast to the creamy custard. This is a gourmand no doubt about it and very much vanilla at that, in fact I might call this a vanilla soliflore there is so litte change, but I should say this is really good for it offers exactly what it promises: vanilla. This has great strength and really does bloom on the skin. Perfect on a rainy day waiting for the technician to come.

On a side note, the vanilla that comes closest to this is Molinard's Vanille, but that vanilla is still just a sad shadow of this.

****Update: Wasn't the satellite, turns out it was the receiver box, don't even ask me how, I never once played with receiver. Now watching the most wonderfully anal retentive cooking shows out there: Cook's Illustrated which hosts America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country. Off to cook. Testing out another Mark Bittman recipe.
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image: Naughty Boy by Brandi Milne